Harper's new campaign talking points are focussed on labelling Election 2011 as The Unnecessary Election. Standing on a stage in P.E.I. he's just said "this is not where I should be", blaming the "coalition" for dragging him from Ottawa, forcing him to endure a campaign, answer reporter's questions.

At least Harper won't be forced to talk to a real random Canadian, for anyone that gets close to him is pre-vetted and ordered to keep quiet unless spoken to directly, rather like the Canadian media are muzzled by Harper and his team.

The other end of Harper's plank is to paint himself as a great fiscal manager. This simply isn't true. Readers will recall that during the last "unnecessary election" -- the one in 2008 which Harper called, breaking his own fixed election date law in the process -- Harper claimed that if Canada were to be faced with a recession it'd already be happening. He promised he'd never engage in "deficit financing" of federal government operations. (YouTube) A few short weeks after the election he acknowledged that Canada was facing a recession of significant depths and would turn on the deficit spending spigot.

What many Canadians did not realize back in 2008 is that the Harper government had already started to push Canada deep into deficit spending before he'd even called the election. He lied to us all then. We all know how it turned out. What lies is he telling now?

Hopefully Canadians won't be fooled.

There is no "coalition". Stephen Harper is no great fiscal manager. There is no such thing as an unnecessary election. Going to the polls again is not something to fear or loathe but is an opportunity for Canadians to speak their mind again. But they need to be armed with facts, not vitriol from either side.

Want to have influence over this election? Get your question put to the leaders in the upcoming debates. From the news release:

The English-language debate will be moderated by Steve Paikin, while Anne-Marie Dussault and Paul Larocque will co-moderate the French-language debate.

The Debates will also feature involvement from the public. The two-hour debates will be comprised of six segments. Each will begin with a question from a Canadian that will launch a six-minute one-on-one debate between two leaders. The segment will conclude with a debate on that same topic open to all four leaders.

The English-language debate will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, April 12. The French-language debate will air between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 14.

Send an email containing your question to:

question@electiondebate2011.ca

Updated throughout the day when so moved...

Broadcast consortium announces leader's debate details (April 1, 2011) Put your questions to the leaders.

Ending Canada's 'benign dictatorship' (March 30, 2011 - Terry Milewski, CBC News) Here's a little test: what would the Conservatives do if they found a clip of Michael Ignatieff calling Canada a "benign dictatorship?" Right: they'd put it in an attack ad. Another test: what would the Liberals do if they caught Stephen Harper saying that? Right: nothing. At least, that's what they've done with it so far.

The debates mess (3) - The whole thing (March 31, 2011 - Andrew Coyne, Macleans) We should also abolish this odious business of having separate debates in each language. The end result is not only to halve the audience for each debate - an election, of all times, ought to be a time when the whole country comes together - but the French debate becomes, inevitably, a debate for and about Quebec, with shameless pandering to match. [...] Whatever format we choose, whatever rules we set, they should be set outside the confines of any one election campaign. We have to stop pretending that televised debates are some sort of novelty. They've been with us for 50 years, and are now as integral to any election campaign as lawn signs and all-candidates meetings. It's time they were incorporated into the election laws.

Why the TV consortium excluded Elizabeth May (April 1, 2011 - The Globe and Mail) Broadcast consortium chairman Troy Reeb discusses how the decision was reached to bar Elizabeth May from participating in the televised leaders debates.

PM will now take your questions... but only five (April 1, 2011 - Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press) The yellow steel fence that kept reporters far from Stephen Harper on Thursday was a potent symbol of his election campaign. Harper is running a tight travelling show with little room for spontaneity, where national media are limited to four questions a day -- and kept a safe distance from the Conservative leader. Harper was pressed by frustrated reporters to explain the strict control of his campaign and his reluctance to answer more questions, in contrast to the dozens that are taken by his rivals. The Conservatives rode to power in 2006 promising greater transparency, more accountability and better access to information.

Ignatieff pressures Harper for 1-on-1 debate (April 1, 2011 - CBC News) Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is keeping the pressure on Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, writing an open letter to demand a one-on-one leaders' debate. Ignatieff published the open letter on the Liberal Party's website Friday morning.

Open letter to Stephen Harper (April 1, 2011 - Michael Ignatieff, Liberal.ca) [...] Perhaps I can make this easier for you. I will meet you at the time and place of your choosing. There is no need for complicated or convoluted debate formats. Just two podiums - and you and me. A true, honest-to-goodness battle of ideas and visions.

This is the kind of contest that Canadians are yearning for. I know because I have been meeting ordinary Canadians of all ages, backgrounds and political allegiances at events across Canada. It's absolutely exhilarating. In fact, I would recommend that you try it.

In closing, I urge you to reconsider your reversal and stick to your word. I strongly believe our fellow Canadians deserve this chance to see the different visions of leadership between the only two people who can become prime minister of this country at the end of this election.

Layton vows to hire and train more family doctors (April 1, 2011 - The Globe and Mail) The NDP Leader arrived at Laurentian University in this nickel city Friday to pledge that a government led by him would invest in the training of more health-care professionals.

NDP goes deep behind enemy lines in quest to slay Tory majority (April 1, 2011 - Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail) Mr. Layton is nothing but an optimist. And he does not take kindly to those who reject the image of his party as giant slayer.

Ignatieff vows small, open government (April 1, 2011 - QMI) Despite laying down three major, pan-Canadian policy planks in as many days - on education, pensions and child care -- with multi-million or billion-dollar price tags, Ignatieff maintains the measures won't bloat government bureaucracy. "On the contrary," he told QMI Agency in an one-on-one interview on the Liberal plane between Winnipeg and London, Ont. "These are initiatives that have one common characteristic. They help Canadian families with a minimum of bureaucracy... It's not big government, it's government that sends the help directly to the family." The Liberal leader said he is also committed to creating an accountable, transparent government that welcomes public participation and respects the independence of government watchdogs.

Elizabeth May and Linda Keen to hold joint press conference (March 31, 2011 - Green Party) Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green party of Canada, will hold a join press conference on Friday, April 1 [12:00pm Pacific], with Linda Keen, former President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Former nuclear safety watchdog endorses May (April 1, 2011 - CBC News) Linda Keen, the former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, is endorsing Elizabeth May in her race to unseat former Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn. Keen was ousted from her job by Lunn in 2008 after she ordered the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ont., shut down over safety concerns, sparking a major disruption in the world's supply of medical isotopes. May is running against Lunn in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding just outside Victoria, B.C.

Per-vote subsidies for political party funding were brought in by former Prime Minister Jean Chretien in conjunction with tough new limits on corporate and personal political donations. The idea was to make political funding less of an impediment for a flourishing democracy. Stephen LeDrew, a former president of the Liberal Party, back then called the idea "dumb as a bag of hammers", yet since that infamous comment was made we've seen elections partly fought on this funding formula and here we are again. Stephen Harper has vowed to eliminate this funding formula.

Elizabeth May's Green Party are likely more reliant on the vote subsidy than any other party. Maybe this particular challenge should be a focus for her rather than participation in the leader's debates. Did the Green Party arrange its 2 million dollar line of credit for this election campaign in part on the promise or assumption that the vote subsidy will be there afterwards to help pay the debt?

Lest someone paint me as a carbon loving dinosaur, I'm a "green" voter through and through but these days can't bring myself to waste my vote on a local Green candidate because my vote truly is wasted here in my home riding of Vancouver-Kingsway. Truth be told I'm also of like mind with David Suzuki who once said, paraphrased, that he wished the Green Party would completely disappear because green politics needs to be a fixture of every party, not seen as a special issue for a special issue party. Our current political system is not friendly to parties seen as single issue focussed; maybe in some future Canada I'd change my mind altogether but not now.

One assessment we can make with certainty is that Stephen Harper's Conservative Party and government are the least green option out there. If you want to see carbon-loving dinosaurs walking the earth today, look toward the dark blue political signs.

Harper vows to end party subsidies (April 1, 2011 - CBC News) Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is still committed to scrapping party subsidies but says it would be impossible unless he formed a majority government.

Tired of constant campaigns, Harper says he'll scrap per-vote subsidy (April 1, 2011 - The Globe and Mail) Stephen Harper is blaming per-vote taxpayer subsidies for causing frequent elections and is promising to cut this assistance if he wins a majority government.